Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

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Gunter
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Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

Post by Gunter »

NOTE: This has absolutely nothing to do with FvF Quake (a 20-year-old game, for those who don't know), but I'm posting it here in my Tech Support Forum because I don't wanna register for Reddit or something, and I wanted to put the information out there because a lot of people are going to be facing this problem now..... So, enjoy, random internet people who find your way here! (I did post a link to here from the Chromecast Help Forum: https://productforums.google.com/forum/ ... chromecast )

EDIT: A moderator locked that thread, saying it was a duplicate of another thread, which you can find here: https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/ ... -7JBxOAQAJ

That thread is rather a mess, because they are locking and redirecting all related things to there....


Note: Anyone can post here on my forum without registering -- you just have to pass a security question to prove you're not a bot. You can find an answer for that question by looking at the images on the front page of the site: http://www.fvfonline.com


UPDATE 2018: It seems Google has recently been updating their back-end scripts, which has further crippled Cast functionality -- at least this seems to be the case for me in Win XP. As of December, Youtube stopped detecting my Cast functionality, so the videos there no longer gave the option to Cast. But throughout December, other video sites such as Crunchyroll or Dailymotion were still functioning just fine, with the Cast icon appearing in their videos. But then as of January 2018, all web sites and even Chrome extensions can no longer detect or connect to Chromecast through my browser, as they previously could....

The Google Cast extension itself can still work as usual to TabCast, but Casting web videos has become difficult.

There is only one Chrome extension I have that stills function correctly to cast web videos: VideoCast.
It will detect some videos on a page, then you can click its toolbar icon and press the Cast button, which will open a new page that will allow you to send the video to your Chromecast. It may not work correctly for all videos, but it will work for many... at least for now, unless Google makes more updates that further cripple the Chromecast ability.




Did your Chromecast icon vanish from your Chrome toolbar?

Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

This applies to Chrome version 49 running on older operating systems like Vista, XP, and versions of OSX lower than 10.9 on older MacBooks.


Google has decided to make it impossible to use a Chromecast with older operating systems. It's not enough for them to just say "this may not work, and we don't support it" -- it seems now, as of April 20th 2017, the Google Cast extension for Chrome will automatically update itself to a new version and then promptly remove itself completely from Chrome.

This issue is not, as some people are claiming, an update to the Chromecast protocol that has caused the Cast extension to stop working -- the old Cast extension STILL WORKS, and has been working for older OS's for the past year, despite it not having been updated since March 2016. It's just that Google now decided to revoke the extension by "updating" to a new version that is nothing but a single line of code: "chrome.management.uninstallSelf();" That's right, the Google Cast Extension is now nothing but a command to uninstall itself, and because extensions will automatically update, this happens whether you want it to or not.

Of course, there may be updates in the future to the Chromecast firmware or protocol that will indeed make it totally incompatible with our older OS's.... But for now, that is not the case.


The response you will get when asking about this issue is, "The Google Cast Extension is no longer needed; Cast functionality is already built-in to newer versions of Chrome."

Well, great, except older Operating Systems cannot use newer versions of Chrome.... So we need the Google Cast Extension back, which was working just fine previously.

Then they will tell you, "Sorry, Chromecast is not supported under those older operating systems; see this page: https://support.google.com/chromecast/a ... 9990?hl=en "

The thing is, that page previously said that our older operating systems were supported for casting (specifically saying that "Vista or later" was the minimum requirement for Windows), but as of April 24 2017, Google CHANGED the minimum requirements on that page to say "Windows 7 or later." This has understandably upset people, because at the time of purchase they fully met the Chromecast's stated requirements.

And up until now, those of us who are still using those older operating systems have been able to use our Chromecast devices just fine with our outdated versions of Chrome, because previously it was possible to visit the Chromecast Setup page ( https://www.google.com/chromecast/setup/ ) and download the Google Cast extension by clicking where it says "Or, you can set up your chromecast using this computer" (though even this method has been removed now). Note: although you could get the Cast Extension from there, the actual Setup process would not work on an older OS -- I had to use my Android tablet for that step.
That was the only way to actually install the Google Cast extension for older versions of Chrome, because the extension in the Chrome Web Store page ( https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... cfkmllpafd ) says "This extension has been discontinued," and the option to "Add to Chrome" is grayed out.

Well, there was also the Google Cast Beta Extension ( https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... leaejidimm ) which still allows a direct installation from the Web Store (of course, you need that direct link, because the extension won't show up in a search of the Chrome Web Store, nor will the standard extension above), but I don't really know what the difference was with the Beta version, and it appears to currently be the same version number as the standard extension anyway (with the same automatic removal behavior), so it's probably just the same extension but released a day earlier.


Another "fix" you might hear is to go to chrome://flags/#media-router and Enable it.
Don't do that. It does not seem to work for older versions of Chrome. It will indeed add the "Cast" function to the Chrome menu (and the right-click menu for pages) along with an integrated popup for casting, but it will prevent your Chromecast from being detected. You need to make sure that settings is Disabled (which is, I think, the same as "Default") so that the Cast extension can function instead.
If you're using a more recent version of Chrome, you can try toggling the media-router setting, and it might actually help you (though in newer versions it's called chrome://flags/#load-media-router-component-extension ), but be sure to Disable it if you are going to use this guide to install Google Cast, otherwise the extension will be prevented from working.


In any case, due to the stupid automatic updating and instant removal of the Cast Extension, Google leaves us high and dry in regard to using our Chromecasts from older operating systems.


BUT there is a workaround.

You can go to crx4chrome and download the previous version here: https://www.crx4chrome.com/crx/49386/

That should be the crx file for Google Cast version 15.1120.0.4 which was from March 23, 2016, 1.09 MB in size.

Then in your Chrome browser, go to chrome://extensions (either type or paste that directly into the Chrome address bar) and then simply drag and drop that crx file onto that page to install it.

Now it should be working just fine again, except it will want to auto-update itself after a while (maybe within a few hours), which will result in the new version being installed and promptly removing itself from Chrome.... Of course, you can easily re-add the former version again, as above, but it would be nice to have an easy way to prevent it from auto-updating in the first place.

The following page lists several methods to prevent an extensions from automatically updating: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2765 ... autoupdate

But none of those work for me. Perhaps they are for later versions of Chrome; I use Chrome 49 on XP.


Mac OSX Users: I have found a way that seems to work for OSX. First, in your Chrome browser (again, right in the address bar) go to chrome://version and find "Profile Path" which will probably be like:

/Users/<USERNAME>/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default

Highlight your profile path and copy it (Command+C, or use the "Edit" menu), then go to Finder (just click your desktop or something) and in the "Go" menu at the top of your screen, select "Go to Folder" (or just press Command+Shift+G) then paste the profile path into the box (Command+V or use the "Edit" menu) and click "Go."

Now, in the window that opens, look for and open the "Extensions" folder, then look for the folder named "boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd" (if you don't see it, Chrome may have already auto-updated the Cast extension and removed it -- if so, just install it again, as above).

Select that folder, then click the "File" menu and select "Get Info" (or just press Command+i).
Then click the checkbox that says "Locked."


That's it, you're done! You can pretty much skip the rest of this guide.

That should prevent Chrome from being able to change anything in that extension folder.

You can always test if the extension will update by going back to chrome://extensions and selecting "Developer Mode" at the top of the page, then clicking "Update extensions now." If the above works correctly, then the Cast extension will not suddenly vanish....

NOTE: By the way, if for any reason you ever need to uninstall or reinstall the Google Cast Extension, remember that you MUST Unlock that folder! Just repeat the steps above only remove the check mark from the "Locked" option.




Back to Windows users....

Installing it as an "unpacked extension" will prevent any updating from the Web Store, though this method requires some fiddling. The crx file can be unpacked using 7-Zip, but trying to install it after that never seems to work for me, and results in errors that make it unusable.

So first, install the crx as above, by drag-and-drop onto the Extensions Management page in Chrome. Then make sure you have activated "Developer Mode" using the checkbox at the top of that page. Take note of the Extension ID for Google Cast; it will be like: "boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd"

Then (before it uninstalls itself... and if it does, just reinstall it) find the actual extension folder, which will be located at:

C:\Documents and Settings\<USERNAME>\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\<EXTENSION-ID>

If that location isn't correct, you can always check in chrome://version for "Profile Path." Browse to that location.

PROTIP! You can get to that folder quickly by Copying the address found in "Profile Path," then click Start -> Run (or just press Win+R), and Paste the address in there, then hit Enter or "OK."

Make sure you find the \Extensions\<EXTENSION-ID\ folder that matches the Extension ID for Google Cast which you just installed ("boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd").


Once found, look in that Extension ID folder and you will find a version number folder: "15.1120.0.4_0" (it's possible there may be more than one version number folder in here if the extension has been removed and reinstalled, but that shouldn't matter). That folder will contain the goodies you need. You can copy the version number folder to some other (easily-accessible) location on your drive (and even rename it if you want), or you can just leave it in its current location and use it from there.

So, look inside that version number folder (or whatever you renamed it to, if you copied it somewhere else) and DELETE the folder called "_metadata"

Now go back to the Chrome Extensions page and click "Load Unpacked Extension" near the top, and browse back to your version number folder and click "OK" (this part will be much easier if you renamed and moved the folder somewhere easier to access).

You will see one error about a manifest key, but I think you can safely ignore that. The Google Cast toolbar button should work now, and the extension should never automatically update itself from the Web Store again.

(You can always test if the extension will update by going back to chrome://extensions and selecting "Developer Mode" at the top of the page, then clicking "Update extensions now." If the above works correctly, then the Cast extension will not suddenly vanish....)


Unfortunately, now you may get a different little annoyance: a warning that pops up every time you start Chrome, telling you that it's dangerous to run developer mode extensions.... You can just press "Cancel" to dismiss that warning and go about your day, but it will keep warning you every time you start Chrome....

It would be nice to be able to disable that warning, huh? Well, that is not an easy thing to do in Chrome 49.

It CAN be done, but this will require some minor hacking of chrome.dll

Again, this is for Chrome version 49 on XP or Vista. I have no idea what OSX would require for this part, or if it is even applicable -- my OSX workaround should not actually face this problem.

chrome.dll is found found in:

C:\Documents and Settings\<USERNAME>\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\<VERSION-NUMBER>\

Or again look on chrome://version and find "Executable Path" and that will be the location (minus the "chrome.exe" part) to find the <VERSION-NUMBER> folder, which should be "49.0.2623.112"

PROTIP! You can get to this folder quickly by right-clicking on your Chrome shortcut, going to Properties, then clicking "Find Target" or "Open File Location."

OPTION 1

Are you comfortable using a Hex Editor? Then simply hex edit chrome.dll and replace these offsets:

0033C22A: replace 03 with 09
01B91968: replace 45 with 00

(Always back up your files before editing! -- And, of course, you need to close Chrome before doing this.)

OPTION 2

If you can't use a Hex Editor, there is a powershell script on this page that will make the edit for you: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3028 ... nsions-pop

but I had to install powershell 2 for XP to get that to work. If you want to try that, you can locate the download you need for your OS in the middle of this lengthy page: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... d-bits-4.0

OPTION 3

Ok, to make it easy for people who are really not good with computers, I have made a little EXE to do this part for you. All you need to do is download ChromeDevWarningPatch.EXE, place it in the same folder as chrome.dll (as above), run it, and it will make the patch for you automatically.
I should point out that I don't personally condone downloading and running strange EXE's from unknown sources, but if you are so bad with computers that you can't use a hex editor, you probably already have hundreds of viruses on your old computer anyway ;) And this is just a simple little program I created using a ROM patching utility called Beopat.



So, after all that, you should happily be able to use your Chromecast again, even though Google doesn't want you to be able to do that anymore without buying a new computer.

Screw that.


------------------------------------------------------------
Two final notes for those who may still be using XP.

First, I usually use Slimjet browser ( http://www.slimjet.com/ ), which is based on Chromium (so it is very similar and can use the same Chrome extensions), and is a bit more updated and perhaps a bit more secure than the abandoned Chrome 49. This works on Vista as well.
But note that Slimjet doesn't support all media formats, so you may not be able to view or cast everything that Chrome 49 can.

Second, you can continue to receive Windows Updates for XP through 2019 if you use this registery hack to trick XP into thinking it's embedded in an ATM, heh: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2310301 ... lling.html
Note that this won't fully protect you, but it may provide slightly better security than standard unpatched XP at this point. Read up on it and use at your own risk.
-----------------------------------------------------------


-- Aaron
http://www.tinyvast.com
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nubo

Re: Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older OS.

Post by nubo »

I just want to thank you for this info..it worked perfectly for Windows Vista...I was totally lost until I ran into your post..Thanks again!!
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Gunter
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Re: Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older OS.

Post by Gunter »

I'm glad people have found this information useful.

It seems the moderators on the Chromecast Help Forum are just trying to let all our complaints disappear (much like the Google Cast icon in the Chrome toolbar has disappeared!).

Also, anyone can post here on my forum without registering -- you just have to pass a security question to prove you're not a bot. You can find an answer for that question by looking at the images on the front page of this site. http://www.fvfonline.com



EDIT: Ah, well, at least the Google moderators have now Pinned the single topic in their Help Forum where they are redirecting all similar complaints, so maybe more people will find it and eventually find their way here.... I guess they do get credit for that potentially helpful action, but they are probably just tired of all the people asking the same question, which they then lock and redirect to that big messy one with a title that is not very descriptive....
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knagl

Re: Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

Post by knagl »

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I use an ancient laptop with Vista and rely on being able to Chromecast stuff for a bar trivia (pub quiz) show that I run. Imagine my surprise last time I tried to send an image to the TVs only to discover I no longer had a Chromecast button. Your article fixed the problem. Thanks a lot to you, and thanks for nothing, Google.
knagl

Re: Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

Post by knagl »

....well, it kind of works. It worked great at home on my Nexus player. I got to my trivia show, and it doesn't see the Chromecast 1.0 that's installed there. :cry:

Thanks again for nothing, Google.

Anyone successfully gotten this working with an original Chromecast device?
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Gunter
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Re: Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

Post by Gunter »

Be sure that chrome://flags/#media-router is DISABLED (which is also the Default) -- I know enabling that will prevent Chrome 49 from detecting the Chromecast device....

But if you say it worked at your home but not at the bar, it's probably not that setting.... Hm.

Other than making sure you're connected to the same network, I don't know.

EDIT: there's a note on this page: https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/3249268 that says under Vista, you can't Chromecast on "public" networks... but if it used to work for you, then it seems like that wouldn't be it. There are other things to check on that page though.
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Guest

Re: Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

Post by Guest »

Thank you Aaron. Excellent tutorial. Worked perfectly. I hope the word gets around. All the best to you for your hard work.
Vista user

Re: Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

Post by Vista user »

Huge thanks from a Vista user - our cast disappeared overnight and your instructions worked perfectly.
tombo

Re: Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

Post by tombo »

Thanks so much from a Mac user - it all worked easily although I my first attempt to download the extension failed so I used a different mirror on that page. Then my biggest problem was getting into the Library so as to get to Application Support. The way to do this in case people don't know is:

Hold down the Alt (Option) key when using the Go menu in Finder. The user Library folder is listed below the current user's home directory. (Note: After you open the Library folder, you can drag the Library icon from the top of that window to the Dock, sidebar, or toolbar to make it readily accessible.)
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Gunter
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Re: Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

Post by Gunter »

I know, I found how difficult it is to browse folders in OSX. It's like many folders are invisible....

Did the method I described about using Finder -> Go to Folder, and pasting in your "Profile Path" not work? That was the easiest method I found to get there.
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tombo

Re: Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

Post by tombo »

Ah yes, that does work but I'd not understood that I needed to type chrome://version/ in the address bar of Chrome itself. It does indeed get you to the folder that contains the Extensions folder.
Unfortunately later this evening I found that it had reverted even after I'd locked the "boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd" folder that you indicated. Perhaps I didn't lock it fully. I was going to make it "read only, but then I realised that would presumably mean that I couldn't access it to change any of the options within the extension, so I've just re-locked it.
Meanwhile I've kept my downloaded Chromecast extension handy so that it's very simple to drop it into the Extensions window should Chrome keep eliminating it then at least it won't take a moment to reinstate it!!!
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Gunter
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Re: Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

Post by Gunter »

Yeah, I was worried that Locking the folder might prevent options from being changed in the extension, but that does not seem to be the case. You can still modify options for the extension without problem.

I'm really unfamiliar with OSX, but just using the "Locked" checkbox in the Folder Info window seems to be all that is needed. You can test it by going back to chrome://extensions in Developer Mode, and press the button that says "Update extensions now." With the folder Locked, the extension will not vanish. Otherwise it will.

I hope there is not some some situation in OSX that could result in Chrome running with Administrator rights, but with the folder being Locked the under some other user's rights, which might allow Chrome to still be able to modify the folder....


I'll try to update my guide to make it more clear about those chrome:// addresses.
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pAdidas

Re: Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

Post by pAdidas »

Hey man,

Followed your (genuinely well written instructions), but still can't make it past one part of it...

I have the folder open with the extensions listed in it, but every time I drag the downloaded file to my extensions page in Chrome, it installs it, the Immediately deletes the newly created folder in my browser, before I can get a chance to click 'Locked'.

Is there something I'm missing with it? I have media router disabled, and very few other extensions installed.

I have tried fully closing and reopening Chrome, and the boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd folder appears again, however Chrome isn't installed in the extensions page in Chrome...

Confusing eh? Any suggestions at all? I'm also running 10.7.5 OSX so should have worked really?

Thanks,
Pad
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Gunter
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Re: Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

Post by Gunter »

Usually an extension won't auto-update itself that fast, and there will be time to mess with it before it does.

It almost sounds like you may be installing the newest "version" that instantly removes itself. Check to make sure the crx you downloaded is the 15.1120.0.4 version from March 23 2016. It should be about 1.09 meg in size.


Something else you can try is disconnecting from the internet, then go through the procedure again. With no internet connection, it should be impossible for it to auto-update. If it still instantly removes itself, it must be the wrong version you are trying to install.... That "version" is only about 15 KB in size, because it's nothing but an uninstall command.
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pAdidas

Re: Here's how to get your Google Cast extension back in older Operating Systems.

Post by pAdidas »

YES!

I can't believe I spent two hours using the wrong downloaded file....

If you're ever in Ireland, I'm buying you a pint.

Thanks so much, Aaron!

Very much appreciated,
Pad
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